Branding is not a logo. It’s not a fancy font or tagline, and it’s not a color. And it’s not some “indefinable quality that you’ll know when you see.” Designers say this when they want to charge you a bazillion dollars while they’re walking the astral plane looking for “true essence.”

Branding is none those things, though each may play a part.

What branding really is

Let me ask you some questions and you’ll understand the simplicity of branding:

When you see the golden arches of McDonalds, what do you think of?

When you see the multi-colored font of Google on their home page what do you feel?

When you see a Nazi swastika, does it elicit any emotional or analytical response from you?

When you see …

Having a nice looking ebook increases the chances of it being read by a factor of one gazillion.

Lately, I’ve been doing more ebook designing than any other type of work and it’s been a total blast.

But I’ve noticed a few questions keep coming up over and over in regards to technical terms, layout ideas, etc. I’m going to cover some of those basics in this post, both for general education purposes and also as an aide to potential clients as to what kinds of things are possible with their own books.

A couple of the things I’m going to cover are very basic common terms from the world of print. Well, basic to some people, but brand new to many others. …

I‘m not a designer for money.

I run a design business for money, but that’s a different thing. The money has always come as an incidental, as an effect and not the cause. I design and often people want to give me money for it. That’s a healthy relationship and a good way to stay alive.

But I design because I love it. I design because when I don’t, odd things happen inside me and the world takes on a certain pallor.

I’m a designer because when I walk around in the city I can’t keep my eyes off storefront signs, sandwich boards, even newspapers in their stands. Everywhere I look is typography for me to study and I often wonder …